Aug 31, 2010

One of the more candid moments in McGarry's interview with Tancredo was when he asked him about legalizing marijuana. Tancredo said he is opposed to the drug war — a position he took up last year. “I don't use marijuana, I've never smoked a marijuana cigarette ...” Tancredo began.

“Do you want to?” McGarry interjected.

“Not really. I take about two glasses of wine almost every night with dinner. That's as far as I go,” Tancredo laughed. “The reality is this: The war is lost. I don't know that anyone out there can say to me let's just keep doing what we're doing. If you want to deal with this problem, take the money for the cartels out of it. You legalize it, you tax it, you make it a horrendous penalty to sell to children and, all of a sudden, the ratio of profitability to risk becomes too great. If someone has a better idea, let me know. I'm happy to listen but what we're doing does not work.”